Hughie Fury

Hughie Fury
Fury in 2015
Statistics
Real name	Hughie Lewis Fury
Nickname(s)	The Fist of Fury
Weight(s)	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 6 in (198 cm)
Reach	80 in (203 cm)
Nationality	British
Born	(1994-09-18) 18 September 1994 Stockport, Greater Manchester, England
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	20
Wins	20
Wins by KO	10
Losses	0
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  England Youth World Championships 2012 Yerevan Super-heavyweight

Hughie Lewis Fury (born 18 September 1994) is a British professional boxer who competes at heavyweight.^[1] As an amateur he represented England at the 2012 Youth World Championships, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and becoming the first British boxer to do so.

Early life

Hughie Lewis Fury was born on 18 September 1994 in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, to a family of Irish Traveller heritage.^[1][2] He is the cousin of Tyson Fury, both of whom have stated that they are aiming to become "the new Klitschkos" and dominate the heavyweight division.^[2][3] Both are trained by Hughie's father, Peter Fury.^[2]

Amateur career

In 2012, Fury represented England at the Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships in Yerevan. Fury won a gold medal at super-heavyweight and became the first British fighter to win one at that weight class in that event.^[4][5]

Professional career

Fury vs. Fred Kassi, 2016

Early career

Fury turned professional at the age of 18, the year following his gold medal win at the Youth World Amateur Championships.^[1] He fought at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec on the undercard of Stevenson-Boon II on March 22, 2013 against 34 year old David Whittom in a scheduled four round fight. Fury won via second round knockout. His second professional bout took place a month later at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City on the undercard of his cousin, Tyson Fury's fight against Steve Cunningham. He defeated American Alex Rozman via first round stoppage. Fury fought in the UK for the first time in May at City Hall in Belfast in a points decision win against Ugandan Moses Matovu. Referee John Lowey scored it 40-36 in favour of Fury. Ten days following the points win, Fury travelled to Romania to fight at the Sala Olympia in Timisoara on an unsanctioned show against defeating Janos Finfera. Fury fought twice in June beating Ladislav Kovarik via technical knockout, then beating Tomas Mrazek via a shutout points decision 60-54. Fury fought twice again in July, beating 39 year old Ivica Perkovic, then picking up a points win against Moses Matovu for the second time.

On September 14, Fury was scheduled in his first 8 round bout at the Magna Centre in Rotherham against 27 year old Shane McPhilbin. The fight ended after round one. McPhilbin claimed to have injured his left shoulder.^[6] Fury kept his unbeaten record intact with a 6 round unanimous decision win over Dorian Darch at the York Hall in London. The referee scored it 60-54 for Fury.^[7] Fury was next scheduled to fight little known Croatian fighter Hrvoje Kisicek (4-5, 1 KOs) in a scheduled 6 round bout at the Hermitage Leisure Centre in Whitwick.^[8] Fury won every round as he cruised to a comfortable points win (60-54). Fury was to return on November 8 in a scheduled 6th round bout at the City Academy Sports Centre in Bristol, against 32-year-old David Gegeshidze (10-4-1, 2 KO’s).^[9] Fury picked up his 7th stoppage of his career with a hard fought 4th round TKO win over Gegeshidze.^[10] Fury next fought 36-year-old Matthew Greer and defeated him in the 2nd round of a scheduled 6 round fight at the Copper Box Arena in London. Fury knocked Greer down three times in the 2nd round to get the stoppage.^[11]

Fury went the 8 round distance for the first time in his career, winning seven rounds, against Danny Hughes. The referee scored it 79-74.^[12] In February 2015, Fury faced off against his toughest opponent to date on paper, Andriy Rudenko (24-1, 16 KOs). Rudenko's only came before this fight against Australian contender Lucas Browne via decision. Fury defeated Andriy Rudenko in his first ever 10 round fight via unanimous decision on the Golovkin-Murray fight card at the Salle des Étoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The final judges’ scores were 98-92, 98-91 and 97-92 all in favour of Fury.^[13]

Fury took five months off before returning in July at the Derby Arena in Derby against 41 year old veteran and former Brazilian heavyweight champion George Arias, who had won 56 of 68 pro fights since 1996.^[14] Fury remained unbeaten with a points decision win over former world cruiserweight title challenger Arias. The referee scored the fight 100-90, in what was called a dreadful mismatch.^[15] In November, Fury fought Argentine Emilio Ezequiel Zarate (18-14-3, 9 KOs) at the City Academy Sports Centre in Bristol. Fury picked up his 9th knockout of his career in stopping journeyman Zarate in the 2nd round of the scheduled eight round bout. Fury hit Zarate with a right hand to the left side of his head, causing him to fall down face first on the canvas.^[16]

Fury fought 37 year old Larry Olubamiwo in an 8 round fight, defeating him via first round stoppage under 2 minutes in round one. There was rumours after the fight claiming Fury turned down a chance to fight WBC champion Deontay Wilder worth big money on January 16. However, Peter Fury stated that Hughie would be in a big fight next year before a shot at the WBC title.^[17] Fury fought in March 2016 outpointing 40 year old American boxer Dominick Guinn in a 10 round decision at the Wembley Arena in London. Referee Terry O'Connor scored it 100-90 for Fury.^[18]

Fury vs. Kassi

In his first title bout, Fury claimed the vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title by outpointing Fred Kassi via technical decision on April 30, 2016. The bout went to the scorecards after seven rounds following an accidental clash of heads which left Fury with a gash over his left eye. Fury was ahead on all judges scorecards by a comfortable margin (69-66, 70-64 and 69-65). Fury also extended his unbeaten run to 20 wins and 0 losses since turning pro in 2013.^[19]

Health conditions

Due to health conditions, which had been ongoing for a few months, Peter Fury has revealed Hughie is operating only 'at 30%' due to a skin condition causing fatigue. The British Boxing Board of Control ordered Fury to face Dillian Whyte for the British title. Fury had been fighting these health issues since January 2015.^[20][21] After a few months of treatment, Peter stated he was keen to get Hughie in the ring with IBF champion Anthony Joshua by November 2016.^[22] In January 2017, Fury spoke about the acne and health issues he had over the years and how he battled to overcome them.

"I went to a skin specialist and he said: 'I can't believe you have been fighting in this condition'. He took blood tests. He told me the bad infected blood basically poisons the insides, affects your immune system and you are always fatigued. The type of acne I had, in the olden days they used to bring them in and put them in hospital beds. That's how bad it was."

Fury also spoke about how it started at the age of 15 and how it affected his training camps.^[23]

"I've had it since I was 15. I thought it was teenage acne so it never really bothered me, but then it kept getting worse. Before I fought Fred Kassi I had cold sores all around my mouth. My face was swollen with acne; that was the worst it has ever been."

World title challenge

In December 2016, following Joseph Parker's WBO heavyweight title victory, Fury, ranked number 2 by WBO was in contention to fight him next.^[24] David Haye, ranked number 1 by WBO decided to take up a pay per view grudge fight with fellow Brit Tony Bellew, which pushed Fury as mandatory challenger. Fury wanted the fight to take place in the UK whilst Parker preferred it to be in New Zealand.^[25] On 25 January 2017, the WBO ordered a purse bid to take place on 1 February, with a minimum bid of $1 million. Parker would receive the higher amount of the 60/40 split.^[26] A deal was close to being reached before the WBO ordered the purse bid. One day before the scheduled purse bids, the WBO pushed it back by two days, to take place on 3 February instead.^[27][28]

Duco Events, representing Parker made a winning bid of $3,011,000 to secure promotional rights of the fight. This would ensure both fighters to receive their career high purses with Parker earning $1,806,600 and Fury earning $1,204,400. Frank Warren, representing Fury, made a bid of $2,800,000, wanted the fight to take place in the UK. Duco announced a date was set for 1 April 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand.^[29] Due to no deal being signed, on 22 February, WBO president Paco Valcarcel made team Fury aware that they had until 23 February to agree the terms of the fight. If they don't comply, they would then order Parker to follow through and make a voluntary defence.^[30]

On 8 March, Dave Higgins from Duco Events confirmed the bout would take place at the Vector Arena in New Zealand on 6 May 2017. The reason behind the location was due to Parker enjoying fighting in front of his Kiwi fans.^[31][32] On 22 March 2017, Peter Fury was denied a VISA entry into New Zealand. This was due to his criminal past, dating back to the 1990's when he was incarcerated for 10 years for drug related offences.^[33] Two days later, Peter was granted a special VISA running from 28 March to 10 May 2017 meaning he would have over a month to prepare Hughie for the title challenge.^[34]

On 22 April 2017, WBO president Paco Valcarcel announced that the fight was off and would not be taking place. In the released statement, it was revealed that the cancellation came from team Fury although nothing was confirmed.^[35] Parker's camp were said to be disappointed but not surprised by this. The WBO told Duco Events that they can schedule another fight with an opponent within top 15 WBO rankings.^[36] Team Fury issued a statement,

"It is with our deepest regret that we have to announce that the WBO World Heavyweight Championship between the Champion, Joseph Parker, and mandatory challenger, Hughie Fury, scheduled for Saturday 6th May 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand, has been postponed. Hughie has been declared medically unfit to box following a medical assessment. He has suffered an injury to his lower back which has been a serious issue for the last three weeks that has left him unable to train to his full capacity. Despite receiving intense physiotherapy treatment and his desire to fight for the WBO World title, after seeing his physiotherapist last Friday he has been advised to rest for 3-4 weeks before resuming training."

— Team Fury

Peter Fury later stated that he wanted to reschedule the fight as soon as possible.^[37][38] Team Fury later released a statement revealing Parker's promoters had been trying to switch the location of the fight to England because of money issues. They also were adamant Hughie was injured and wanted the world championship fight with Parker rescheduled. Peter Fury said his injury was a recurrence of an injury he suffered a year prior and had flared up again during an intense sparring session.^[39]

On 9 June 2017, Peter Fury confirmed that the fight would now take place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester on 23 September.^[40][41] He also said that Fury would have a tune-up fight at the Copper Box Arena on 8 July and then a week later on 15 July at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.^[42][43] The WBO blocked Fury from taking part in a warm-up fight at the Copper Box because as per WBO rules, once a mandatory challenger agrees to fight the world champion, he cannot participate in a professional fight before then. Warren said Fury would still fight, but in an exhibition, which would not count on his professional record.^[44] Fury took part and won a six-round exhibition against UK-based Polish boxer Kamil Sokolowski (4-10-2, 1 KO) at the Copper Box on 8 July.^[45]

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
21	N/A	N/A	Joseph Parker	N/A	– (12)	23 Sep 2017	Manchester Arena, Manchester, England	For WBO heavyweight title
20	Win	20–0	Fred Kassi	TD	7 (12), 2:08	30 Apr 2016	Copper Box Arena, London, England	Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title; Unanimous TD after Fury was cut from an accidental head clash
19	Win	19–0	Dominick Guinn	PTS	10	26 Mar 2016	Wembley Arena, London, England
18	Win	18–0	Larry Olubamiwo	TKO	1 (10), 1:46	5 Dec 2015	Westcroft Leisure Centre, Carshalton, England
17	Win	17–0	Emilio Ezequiel Zarate	KO	2 (10), 1:05	14 Nov 2015	City Academy Sports Centre, Bristol, England
16	Win	16–0	George Arias	PTS	10	25 Jul 2015	Derby Arena, Derby, England
15	Win	15–0	Andriy Rudenko	UD	10	21 Feb 2015	Salle des Etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco
14	Win	14–0	Danny Hughes	PTS	10	10 May 2014	Ponds Forge, Sheffield, England
13	Win	13–0	Matthew Greer	TKO	2 (6), 2:37	15 Feb 2014	Copper Box Arena, London, England
12	Win	12–0	David Gegeshidze	TKO	4 (8), 2:14	8 Nov 2013	City Academy Sports Centre, Bristol, England
11	Win	11–0	Hrvoje Kisicek	PTS	6	13 Oct 2013	Hermitage Leisure Centre, Whitwick, England
10	Win	10–0	Dorian Darch	PTS	6	29 Sep 2013	York Hall, London, England
9	Win	9–0	Shane McPhilbin	RTD	1 (8), 3:00	14 Sep 2013	Magna Science Adventure Centre, Rotherham, England
8	Win	8–0	Moses Matovu	PTS	4	21 Jul 2013	WonderWorld Xscape, Milton Keynes, England
7	Win	7–0	Ivica Perkovic	RTD	5 (6), 3:00	12 Jul 2013	Fairways Hotel, Dundalk, Ireland
6	Win	6–0	Tomas Mrazek	PTS	6	15 Jun 2013	Epic Centre, Norwich, England
5	Win	5–0	Ladislav Kovarik	TKO	1 (4), 1:37	8 Jun 2013	Bluewater, Stone, England
4	Win	4–0	Janos Finfera	TKO	2 (4)	24 May 2013	Sala Olimpia, Timișoara, Romania
3	Win	3–0	Moses Matovu	PTS	4	14 May 2013	City Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2	Win	2–0	Alex Rozman	TKO	1 (4), 2:26	20 Apr 2013	The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US
1	Win	1–0	David Whittom	TKO	2 (4), 1:49	22 Mar 2013	Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Professional debut

References

External links

• Official website
• Professional boxing record for Hughie Fury from BoxRec
• 2012 Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships results (archived)